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Jonathan Edwards and the Great Awakening: Sermons & Biography

Lesson Transcript

Jonathan Edwards was an American minister whose sermon 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God' became one
of the most famous sermons of the 18th century. In this lesson, we'll look at Edwards' sermon and analyze it for
Puritan beliefs and style.

Jonathan Edwards
In 18th century America, life was changing. The British colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut
were growing in population as more and more British moved from England to America. And, with
more people came more luxuries and an easier life than the previous hundred years had brought.

In the midst of this changing America, Jonathan Edwards became known as one of the great
philosophers and ministers of the nascent colonies and one of the founders of the religious revival
movement of the mid-1700s, known as the Great Awakening. Edwards was born in Connecticut in
1703, the only son of a preacher and the daughter of a preacher. Edwards was valedictorian of his
class at Yale, and went on to seminary to become a preacher himself.

Jonathan Edwards was a founder of the Great Awakening.

In the 1720s and early 1730s, Edwards became concerned that the people of the colonies had lost
their focus on God. Instead, he thought they were being distracted by the worldly goods that had
become more plentiful as new colonists and traders owed into Massachusetts and Connecticut
with more regularity. He became a founding and central gure in a new religious revival known as
the Great Awakening, during which time he delivered his most famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands
of an Angry God.

The Great Awakening

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In the early 1700s in America, life was starting to change. A century before, the American colonies
were mostly religious, but the early 18th century saw the scienti c advancements and philosophies
of Europe make their way to the shores of the New World. The Age of Reason, a European
movement of philosophy and science, began to in uence the once-religious Americans. In
response, a new movement called the Great Awakening or the First Great Awakening sought to
revive religion in England and the British colonies in America. From 1730 to 1760, Puritan ministers
began to preach ery sermons from their pulpit and from the streets of the colonies, and people
began to nd religion again.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

In the midst of the Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards stood in front of a congregation in En eld,
Connecticut and gave a sermon that would become the most famous Great Awakening sermon and
one of the most famous sermons in American history. Originally, Edwards had given the same
sermon to his congregation in Northampton, Massachusetts, but it did not make a major impact.
But, in July of 1741, while visiting the congregation in En eld, Edwards felt called to give the sermon
again. This time, the congregation reacted with passion, often interrupting him to call out and ask
how they could be saved.

The sermon, titled Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, described the re and brimstone waiting for
sinners in Hell. Edwards begins with the Bible verse Deuteronomy 32:35, 'Their foot shall slide in due
time.' Edwards begins by relating this verse to the Puritan belief in predestination, or the idea that
God controls the world and the humans in it.

As an extension of this belief, most Puritans believed that certain people were destined to be saved
and others were destined to be sent to Hell. Those who are destined for Hell are not the audience
for this sermon; rather, it is the people who are destined for Heaven who are sliding of their own
accord towards Hell. Those people Edwards describes as 'hanging over the pit of Hell.'

Edwards points out that the 'due time' of this verse is God's time and that the sliding of the feet,
that is, the descent into Hell, is inevitable. In other words, the people talked about in this verse are
the ones predestined for Hell. However, those who are backsliding from their chosen, holy path
can join them on the descent to Hell. God's power, Edwards continues, is so much more than that
of man's. Therefore, the only thing keeping the sinners out of Hell is the fact that God's chosen
time for them to enter Hell has not yet arrived. Once God decides to cast sinners into Hell, there is
nothing they can do to stop it.

Then, Edwards points out that God's wrath is both terrifying and everlasting. That is, once God's
time has come, the sinners cast into Hell will be tormented for all eternity. But, Edwards says,
though they cannot stop the everlasting wrath when God's time comes, they can do something in
the meantime to save themselves from backsliding into the pit of sinners that God will cast into
Hell. That is, they can run to Christ for mercy. Christ may yet save them and pull them back from
where they dangle over the opening to Hell.

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Edwards' sermon highlights the Puritan belief in predestination, Puritan principles, and the re and
brimstone of the Great Awakening. Besides that, it follows the style of Puritan writing very closely.
Puritans used simple language with little embellishment for their writing and sermons, and
Edwards speaks with the language of normal people.

Lesson Summary
Jonathan Edwards was an early American philosopher and minister who was involved in the 18th
century religious revival known as the Great Awakening. His sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry
God warned sinners that they were going to Hell unless they repented and asked Christ for mercy.
The sermon highlights such Puritan ideals as predestination and the tendency towards simple
language.

Learning Outcomes
Students will demonstrate that they can:

Summarize the contents of Jonathan Edwards' sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Explain how this sermon exempli ed Puritan beliefs and writing style

Describe this sermon's in uence on the Great Awakening

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